One doesn’t see the ads as much as before. Did it go the way of laser discs and quadraphonic stereos, or what?
Thanks
Q
They’re still around. You can even get them at Wal-Mart
Email me if you have any more specific questions - I can probably give you some pretty good information. Also, Jonathan Chance is a devote and always happy to talk about his radio.
AL
Hey! Is someone taking my name in vain?
Yes, Anna is the best source. I’m merely her prophet.
XM is still going strong with more than 600,000 subscribers. Sirius Radio (the competition) announced yesterday that they’d passed 100,000 subscribers.
If I had to lay money I’d say that XM makes it and Sirius doesn’t and is eventually folded into XM.
XM now is more than just car stereos, you know. They have table radios, PC receivers, etc.
It’s the coolest thing on earth. And I speak with utter conviction here when I say that we’re seeing a very close parallel to what happened to broadcast television when cable showed up.
Have I mentioned that I love my XM? Ask me about it.
I have Sirius. I LOVE my satellite radio! If I have to drive our van instead of my car, I go into satellite withdrawal (I have an in-dash system).
What with Clear Channel seemingly taking over the whole broadcast radio world and turning all those stations to pure dreck, I predict satellite radio will be the Next Big Thing.
I have an XM radio and I love it. I have two of these. http://www.xmradio.com/catalog/product_detail.jsp?id=28644&type=Accessory
One is at my home and one is at my office. I just carry the receiver back and forth. Hopefully I will be getting one for my car soon too. I don’t even have a window in my office but I get perfect reception.
I have one of these.
I listen to it all day everyday and bring it home with me on weekends. I love it!!
Oh, and Anna…
I’ll still take you up on that offer someday.
I hope it goes broke.
All it really means is even fewer venues for new music, if it succeeds, & replaces regular broadcast.
So burn in Hell, satellite-radio corporate overlords!
And, I suppose, your little dogs too, if any.
Oh my, did I make you an offer? Were there witnesses?
We’ll tawk, dahlink - Wooz and I will be there Saturday…
ACK! Forgot to preview…
Bosda, I beg to differ. Satellite radio is often the ONLY place that new artists can get any airplay, especially given the total hegemony of the Servants of Satan (ie CCC). Not to mention all the older artists who may have obscure new projects, the garage bands who don’t have record contracts…the list goes on.
I can’t tell you how many artists are THRILLED with satellite radio. They can bypass the horrible red tape and payola schemes rampant in terrestrial radio, and actually get their music (and news and poetry and spoken-word and literature) out to the specific people who want to hear it.
I call foul on you on that one.
Anna
I love xmradio. Love it, love it, love it.
As I’ve said in the past, I hate, hate, hate DJ chatter. Morning shows make me want to drive to the broadcast center and punch those annoying little fuc, er, people in the face. Just shut up, announce the song and play it.
You should be able to guess how I feel about commercials.
xmradio not only has commercial free, DJ free stations, but they my radio displays the name of the band AND the name of song that’s on the air.
How do you figure that? XM has a whole station just for unsigned bands. I can count on one had the number of times I have heard an unsigned band on one of my local channels. The local radio doesn’t even play the local bands. I don’t have a local channel that plays bluegrass or even blues. XM has a station for each.
I wouldn’t be to sure about the commercial free thing.
The VC money dried up in the dot bomb boom and revenue from subscriptions aren’t keeping up with expenses, let alone the debt service. XM went through a round of layoffs, too.
I have a friend who has XM, and it is awesome! I’m hoping the price comes down a bit for the equipment, at which point I’ll definitely buy.
The 80’s new wave station is the coolest station ever! They actually play GOOD music from the 80’s, not Come on Eileen every half hour.
XM is your friend. Embrace it.
What about NPR? I’ve heard that there are news stations on XM, but are they as good as NPR? We have a terrific news-format NPR station in Seattle, which is about the only thing I ever listen to on the radio.
About the only time I won’t listen to our NPR station is when they play Garrison Keillor - he has this one daily show, which I think is called, “Saying Boring Things Slowly” that instantly makes me turn the radio OFF.
Wanted to weigh in and say, what Jonathan Chance and [bJuanitaTech** said.
I love my XM radio, mostly because I haven’t heard a Kia commercial scream at me for nearly a year. In fact, some random kids snapped off the antenna of my car about six months ago… and I do not care and have not replaced it. I have XM and they were at least stupid enough to leave my little shark fin alone.
Note, some channels do air commercials, channel 150 (comedy) comes to mind. Not that it’s a big deal because you can flip to something else for a minute. And I haven’t had a station play 10 minutes of commercials in a row. Just one, then back to the programming. And I can’t be bothered listening to those channels – I stick to the commercial-free ones, of which there are plenty.
The only drawback I can think of is NPR. Have to unplug and listen to FM to hear NPR.
No NPR on XM. The do have all of the major American news networks (CNN, ABC, FOX, NBC). They also have BBC, Bloomberg, CSPAN and CNET. I like listening to BBC sometimes when a live event is being played because they seem to do less of the stupid voice over comentary that American stations do.
One more plug for XM. Last weekend I got to listen to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival live. How cool is that?
I am tempted by XM – except that most of my radio time is spent listening to NPR or KEXP, Seattle’s independent alternative music station. If KEXP went out of business, or if This American Life were available on XM, I might think about it.
(I know XM’s got a broad variety of programming, but one thing I like about KEXP is its mix of formats – you can hear country noir and hip-hop within the same half hour. Plus, generally light on DJ chatter.)
Can you switch easily between XM and broadcast radio?
Sadly, NPR signed an exclusive with Sirius.
So we’ll have to wait until they fold before we can get NPR on XM.
Fortunately, I replace NPR in my heart with BBC Worldservice. Easily better than NPR…though I do have to plow through the cricket matches.
Jonathan, thanks for your offer to ask about your satellite set. I have a Bose Wave table radio that I like very much. Is there a kit available to attach to it, or am I going to have to spring for a whole new unit?
Also, is there a chance that the Comcast folks might sign up with XM? They currently have digital service here in Dallas.
Thanks
Quasi